Just Sell it – The Nike way
Yesterday, Nike pulled a Javier Sotomayor and saw their stock rise 15.5 percent to an all-time high. On Thursday, the sports clothing company announced record North American sales of $5.4 billion and global revenue of $12.3 billion.
The future seems to be much more promising. Nike expects to surpass $50 billion in sales for the first time this fiscal year, due in part to a fast-expanding e-commerce business.
This summer, everyone is optimistic about retail:
- According to a government study released yesterday, consumer spending on goods was 20% higher in May than in February 2020. Total consumer expenditure (including services, which are beginning to trend upward) is expected to rise at the highest pace since 1946 this year.
- According to Bank of America, apparel spending is 35 percent more than it was two years ago.
- Gap stock is up 77 percent year to date, and it’s not simply because a Yeezy jacket was launched.
The following are the trends that are driving retail’s rebirth
With the United States almost wholly reopened and Europe close behind, social lives are heating up, and elastic waistbands are being consigned to KBBQ excursions.
This year, tastes have changed from “casual, at-home, comfy” clothing to “‘going-out’-type attire,” according to Urban Outfitters CEO Richard Hayne. People are also returning to work and school, where nap dresses are not permitted.
Another reason individuals are changing their wardrobes is that their clothing is no longer fitting properly: In comparison to before the epidemic, more than 25% of customers have a new size, according to Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh.
- A Harris Poll study showed that 61 percent of US adults’ weight changed in the previous year, with those who gained weight gaining an average of 29 pounds.
As businesses scramble to recruit elusive workers and smooth out supply chain glitches to meet demand, increased consumer spending positions the economy for an entire summer shopping season.
The entertainment sector is attempting a comeback!
The first full-capacity performance on Broadway since the epidemic started will be Bruce Springsteen’s play, Springsteen on Broadway, which will take place tonight. It’s a sign of life for Broadway, which raked in $1.8 billion in ticket sales during its heyday in 2019. However, it won’t be complete until travel restrictions are lifted, and foreign visitors return to fill seats.
In related news, the Celebrity Edge, the first big cruise liner to depart a US port in 15 months, will set off from South Florida today. According to the ship’s operator, Celebrity Cruises, at least 95 percent of guests have been vaccinated against Covid-19, and the ship will sail at 35 percent capacity.
Fun fact: Kate McCue, the ship’s captain, was the first American woman to command a cruise ship in 2015. She’s now a sailor’s celebrity, with over 1 million TikTok followers and 250,000 Instagram followers.
There is also competition in space
Virgin Galactic, the space travel business founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson, got FAA approval to fly paying passengers to space yesterday, which is excellent news for the 600 individuals on its waiting list who want to see the curvature of the Earth from 56 miles above. It’s also good news for investors: its shares shot up 39% on the day, closing more than 260 percent higher than its May low.
Branson has said that he wants to be on board Virgin Galactic’s early passenger flights. Although we don’t want to sound like Gossip Brew, Branson may arrange his journey to space before Jeff Bezos launches his Blue Origin rocket on July 20.
Zoom in: Space travel, particularly space tourism, is progressing at breakneck speed. According to Wayne Monteith, the FAA’s assistant administrator for commercial space transportation, the number of permitted launches has increased 400 percent in the past five years.
Part of this is due to a lack of bureaucracy. The FAA may only issue permits and authorize launches because of a congressionally required industry “learning period” that runs until 2023.